Help Please! Oral Surgery, Braces, etc.

Hi all, new to the board, I'm in one horrible situation. Upon my last visit to my dentist I learned that I still had a baby tooth that had not fallen out yet, (I'm 23). My dentist informed me that the tooth needed to be removed so that the adult tooth would come in properly. Being the idiot that I am and not noticing any signs of my adult tooth coming in I ignorned the information. Last month I saw that the adult tooth was making it's way into my mouth, the problem is it's growing in the center of my mouth not directly behind the tooth but in the middle of my mouth. In an attempt to find out what kind of surgerical procedure I would be heading into and to find out how much everything is going to cost I came across this board. I'm hoping that somebody has some advice on this matter. I greatly appreciate it.

In order to give you good information, we would need to know a little more, like where the tooth is in your mouth. Did you hear the dentist mention a tooth number for the adult tooth? Did the dentist also tell you you would need a surgerical procedure? Usually baby teeth that never came out don't have much left of the roots and would be a simple extraction.

Check your dental insurance to see if you orthodontic benefits and if so, how much coverage.

Other options would be to have the adult tooth removed from where it's coming in and have your general dentist make you a permanent bridge once the baby tooth is gone. That would cost about half of what braces would cost.

I remember him saying that it was tooth number eleven, I don't know how the numbering goes, but the tooth is in the upper area of my mouth. The dentist told me that the baby tooth would have to be extracted and a brace would have to be put on the adult tooth to put it into proper place, but that seems like a lot of money plus I would have to walk around with a messed up smile until the tooth finally adjusted to where it needed to be. What he's talking about sounds like it would take a couple of years. I'm trying to figure out what would be the most cost effective solution and would be the quickest in regard to getting my smile back to normal after the extraction. My smile is normal right now because the baby tooth is still in place and the adult tooth that is coming in cannot be seen, however that will be a different story once the baby tooth is extracted. I saw an oral surgeon because I have to have my wisdom teeth taken out as well, when I asked him about my options regarding the adult tooth once the baby tooth was extracted, he told me I would have to see an orthodontist because that wasn't his field. I don't want to be in a situation where I'm walking around with a gap in mouth. I have blue cross blue shield but they only cover 1000 dollars so I'm in the process of saving up so I can pay the rest out of pocket, so I'm trying to figure out how much I will need to save up. That bridge idea sounds excellent! I don't know a lot about dental care, so that's why I came to the board you guys are giving me great advice already. I really appreciate it.

Tooth number 11 is your upper left cuspid or eyetooth. The eyeteeth are VERY important teeth in your dental arch, the cornerstones, so to speak. Please, please have it guided into place, even if it does take some orthodontia and some time. It would be difficult to make a satisfactory bridge from your left lateral (#10) to your first bicuspid (#12) because of the curve from anterior teeth to posterior teeth at that spot in your arch. You will not regret having this problem fixed properly!